My Birthday Cake

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Yes, I made my own birthday cake. Before I go any further I will say that my lovely hubby did offer to make it, or we could have bought one, but I said no. I wanted to make my birthday cake, and I will tell you why.

Regular readers will know that I recently went to a cake decorating masterclass with Cake Boss Buddy Valastro. At the class, I was basically just having a bit of fun and the cake I decorated was a right mess if truth be told! When we left we were given a decorating set from the Cake Boss range, and I decided that I would like to decorate my birthday cake, using the set. Partly to make use of the set, and partly to prove to myself (and the world) that I am capable of decorating a cake slightly better than the one I did at the masterclass!

We were having a birthday BBQ on the Saturday after my birthday, so on Friday, Monkey and I did a lot of baking. Or at least, I did a lot of baking while he basically ate quite a lot of butter and sugar. He was happily occupied at least!

I made a huge batch of cake mix, all following a very simple recipe. To make a fairly small batch (for 12 cupcakes or a fairly thin layer of sponge) you would follow this recipe.

4oz Self Raising Flour
1 tsp baking powder
4oz soft Marge or butter (I use Stork)
4oz Caster Sugar
2 Large eggs
2-3 drops Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven to 170°C

Put all in a bowl and whisk with electric whisk until smooth and light. (Yep it is THAT simple!)

Bake 30 mins for cake, or 25 mins for cupcakes. Should be golden and bounce back if pressed gently in the middle)

I made 4 times that amount, made a huge cake, in two layers, and 24 cupcakes.

Then I made lots of lovely buttercream icing, using this recipe: (I made a double batch for my cake and cupcakes)

110g Unsalted Butter at room temperature
60ml Semi-skimmed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
500g sifted Icing sugar

Beat the butter, milk, vanilla extract and half the icing sugar until smooth – can take several minutes with an electric hand mixer.

Gradually add the remaining icing sugar and beat until smooth and creamy.

If you want different colours – your best bet is to add gel food colouring otherwise the consistency gets a lot sloppier and harder to work with.

On Friday night I dirty iced the cake (or applied a ‘crumb coat’) ready for some fondant. Now I didn’t do quite as cake boss would recommend. I didn’t trim the cake to make it flat (I did plan to cut off the tops of the sponge, but it felt too much like a waste of cake!) and I don’t really have the smoothing tools he mentions in his book. I did pipe the icing onto the cake before spreading with a spatula though, and I have to say that was much easier. Normally i am dragging it all over the place and there is crumbs sticking to the icing everywhere, and it basically looks a bit rubbish. Piping the buttercream onto the cake, and then spreading with a spatula, worked a LOT better!

I made some different coloured buttercream for decorating the cupcakes and used a couple of the tips we already had for piping the decorations on. It started off quite well, and I was really pleased with myself.

Then somehow, it went wrong. I know they say a bad workman always blames his tools but honestly something went weird with the piping tips. I used exactly the same technique from moments before, but they went from looking like this…

to this…

What? How? Oh I don’t know, but they look like I suddenly got drunk while piping, and well, as I am 3 months pregnant, I don’t think that happened. Anyway, hey ho, they will all taste the same!

I had planned on finishing the cake on the Friday night too but this had annoyed me somewhat and by now I was tired and irritable and eventually conceded the point to hubby and agreed it may be more sensible to finish icing the cake the following morning!

Feeling fresh on Saturday I set about decorating my cake. Unlike at the masterclass where I just went all guns blazing with no clear idea in my head, this time I had a vague design idea.

I started with the white fondant, which seemed to go ok, although I did make a bit of a mess on the sides of the cake.

WP_20140426_09_28_25_Pro

Thankfully I planned on putting a thick band of icing round this bit, which will hide it but I managed to patch it up a little.

Then I cut some ribbons using the handy cutting tool from the set, and applied round the base of the cake (handily hiding my previous errors!).

The set comes with lots of different shaped cutters, but I chose to just use the star shapes for my cake. So I cut out lots of stars in the different coloured fondant and applied to the cake.

I don’t think I was very delicate with the stars as they look a little more like star fish than stars as they are all wavy, but they still look quite pretty! We’d bought some gel icing pens for writing on the cake with, so I had a little practice, and actually found them really easy to use!

So Ouila! My Birthday Cake and cupcakes! Not perfect and my writing on the cake was a little wonky but overall I was quite pleased. I was pretty chuffed with them, and everyone said they tasted yummy, so a big success overall I think!

I used the Cake Boss circus kit to make my birthday cake, which retails at £25.00. I received the kit free but all words and opinions are my own.

Early Maternity Fashion

Posted by Caroline Elliott

I turned 12 weeks last week (I had my first scan on Friday) and am in that delightful stage where I no longer fit into some of my clothes (bye bye skinny jeans for a while) but am not looking pregnant. Family and friends are starting to notice the beginnings of a bump, that slightly rounded tum, but to anyone who doesn’t know I am pregnant, let’s face it, I just look a bit chubby!

Now, I have never been a skinny girl, I have big wide hips and a rather rotund bottom. I have always been a definite pear shape and while occasionally I could squeeze into size 12 trousers, size 14 (and sometimes 16) trousers have always been the norm for me. Top half though is more of a 10-12. As a teenager I hated my lower half, being given the nickname “thunder thighs” by one of my brother’s friends didn’t help with that, but as I got older I learnt to at least accept my body shape and be happy with what I’ve got. One of the benefits of being pear shaped is that I always had a fairly flat tum. I’m not talking washboard abs or anything, but I have always carried weight around hips and bum, rather than on my tummy.

So one of the things I find tricky to come to terms with when I get pregnant, is the expansion above the waistline. My boobs get a bit ridiculous really early on, I have another post about them planned but so far I have gone from a 32D to a 36E, last time I reached a 36G, bonkers. Anyway then obviously my tummy soon stops being flat. This seems to happen quite quickly for me, I guess it is different with everyone and must depend on your body shape but because I am used to having little in the way of a tum, maybe I notice it bulging sooner?

It’s not all from baby either, I am happy to admit that I am eating a little more than pre-pregnancy. Not loads, and I know the whole eating for 2 is a myth, but you know what? I find pregnancy tiring. Really tiring, so to get through the day I snack more than normal, and eat a bit more chocolate because it helps me feel better. And if there is one time in your life where you shouldn’t worry about a couple of extra pounds I feel it should be when you are growing another human being inside your body. I lost my baby weight after Monkey, (thank you WW) and so I know I can do it again. Plus I can’t be overeating that much as the only places I am growing is tummy and boobs, everything else seems about the same size.

The problem with all of this is flattering clothing. I love the look of a lovely baby bump, but I’m not there yet. It’s obviously too soon for maternity clothes, but I also can no longer wear many of my pre-pregnancy clothes, as my waistline is expanding. As a SAHM a lot of my outfits involve colourful skinny jeans and slightly loose longline tops, as I spend a lot of the time on hands and knees playing and I HATE the builders bum you can get in low-rise jeans! But I can’t get into those skinny jeans anymore, there would be no hiding the builders bum with the excess weight I am now carrying. Plus with morning sickness and the odd bit of heartburn I hate my tummy feeling restricted as I expand. So what do I wear?

Leggings and dresses. Lots of leggings and lots of tunics and dresses!! I took a trip to Primarni (Primark, just pretending it’s posher than it is) for a load of £5 tunic dresses the other day as while I had a few, I by no means had enough to be wearing one every day. And I honestly don’t know what else to wear!

A few of my dress combos, ignore the socks and slippers lol!

I’m not buying more jeans in a bigger size, because there’s no point, I will grow out of them super fast, and I hate feeling restricted. I have lots of maternity jeans and clothes from last time but it feels daft wearing them yet. Interestingly I had a conversation a while ago with an ex-friend who was pregnant, telling me that her clothes were too tight and she couldn’t do them up. I excitedly commented it may be time for maternity clothes soon, and honestly, the look she gave me! “Er no, I won’t be needing maternity clothes” as if I couldn’t possibly have suggested anything worse! Barmy really. Think she planned on leggings and jumpers/dresses for the rest of the pregnancy, but honestly, I am bored of this ‘uniform’ already and will be looking forward to some variety!

After all, this phase is just temporary, and when my current leggings get too tight I will break out the maternity leggings. Then will follow the maternity jeans and as I will be pregnant over the summer this time I may get some maternity shorts. It has surely got to be about comfort!?

But for now, I will stick to my routine of leggings and dresses, to hide the slightly flabby looking bump, until it starts looking more like an actual ‘bump’!

What did you find most comfortable when you were pregnant? Particularly in the early stages? Or did you manage to keep your regular wardrobe a bit longer than I have?

#AllAboutYou Link & Pin Party Mama and More

A glimpse into our home…

Posted by Caroline Elliott

I’ve talked a lot about our garden recently, and there will be another update about that on Thursday! I’ve also recently shown you Monkey’s bedroom, but as the theme for The Theme Game this week is “home” I thought I would give you a few sneak peeks into our house, by just showing you a few of my favourite things, that make me feel really happy to be hom.

Starting in the hallway, where we have a hanging I bought on my travels, in Xi’an, China, to be exact. I just love it.

Also in the hall is a lovely montage of is and our family. We try to update it fairly regularly, and we like fairly candid shots if we can, just all of us having fun :). The frame was a wedding present from my big brother, and its a bit dodgy now as it fell off the wall in our old house and broke 🙁 but we still love it.

Into the downstairs shower-room. We converted what was a really dingy little toilet, and a hall cupboard into a little shower-room. it’s all very simple and white, with just a fun hint of colour in the form of sparkly tiles in the shower and behind the sink.

Into the living room, and you start to see how much we love colour! We have a bright blue wall, and a gorgeous mirror which I just adore. Lots of colourful blankets and cushions, a little area behind the sofa for Monkey’s toys and some of his millions of books! We also have a gorgeous armchair in about the funkiest fabric we could find, and I love the framed picture of the coordinates to our home (though hubby has decreed I am not allowed to publish that picture, in case someone looks up where we live!).

Off sideways into the kitchen, another room we completely renovated, and just a simple shot out of the kitchen window. I love looking out at all the fresh green at this time of year.

Through into the dining room, where we have our most grown-up piece of furniture, a gorgeous dresser, and our photo wall, which again we try to update regularly.

Upstairs we have our spare room/office, otherwise known as the map room, for obvious reasons! It’s quite often a mess and covered in laundry and paperwork but it’s such a tranquil space to spend some time when it is actually tidy. This picture was taken when it was first decorated, as it is a right mess in there at the moment lol!

I won’t show you too much of our bedroom, but I love this photo. I took this picture of the door of a temple in Luang Prabang in Laos. And I adore it. I have had it in my bedroom for years and all of the walls and bedding and accessories are themed around it.

We have one room upstairs which is basically a tip – full of all sorts of bits and bobs that haven’t yet been thrown out or made it to the garage or loft. But that will have to change soon as that is to become the new baby’s room, so at some point this year we will have to get around to painting it (it is currently decorated in a dark grey) and putting some flooring down!

So there you have it, just a sneak peak into our home! Reminds of that old Lloyd Grossman programme, Through the keyhole. “Who lives in a house like this?” A generally happy little family, that’s who :).

The Magic Moment of that First Scan

Posted by Caroline Elliott

The first trimester of pregnancy can be pretty rough. I know it’s not the same for every woman, some have an easier time than others, and some have it far far worse than me, but in general it can be a difficult time.

You find out you are pregnant and feel really excited, but you’re not supposed to tell anyone yet, in case something goes wrong. Then the symptoms kick in. Morning (or all day) sickness, exhaustion, aches, pains, heartburn, constipation, flatulence. All sorts of joyful fun to experience, let alone physical changes such as bigger boobs, and potentially a rounding of the tummy. All the while you are supposed to be keeping it secret.

Even while you are feeling all of these physical effects, I find that for me, the pregnancy still doesn’t feel real at this stage. I guess after the initial excitement of the positive test wears off, I hold myself back from being too happy, just in case. Plus when you feel rough every day it is hard to feel positive about it. There is no doubt that being lucky enough to fall pregnant and bear a child is a blessing, but that doesn’t make it fun. And I don’t think you should have to pretend that it is, if that is not how you feel.

Anyway, digressing, the weeks tick by and, whether you’ve kept it completely secret, or told a few people, to most people in the world, nothing is happening, and even with feeling a bit rough, there are times when you wonder if anything is happening too. I guess what I am saying is that sometimes it is hard to equate the changes to your body, with the life growing inside of you.

Then comes the day of your scan – which I think they call the 11-14 week dating scan now, but it is usually around the 12 week mark. You are excited to see your little one, but nervous as for most mummies this is the first time you see what is going on in there. There’s obviously the nerves associated with wondering if all is ok and developing as it should be.

You go into the ultrasound room and within a few minutes you suddenly see this little baby on the screen. Not a cluster of cells, or a tadpole like creature (that you will probably have seen if you read any of the early ‘your baby this week’ articles on the web) but a teeny tiny human, with arms and legs and a little heart fluttering away it’s own rhythm. It is a truly incredible moment to see that small baby, that you have grown inside you.

It suddenly feels real, and, if all is well, relief washes over you. It doesn’t mean all is safe from here on in of course, but for now, you can see your new little one. That little person created by you and your partner, who is growing and developing safely in your tummy.

We saw baby number 2 on Friday and he/she was such a little wriggle bum, flipping about all over the place. Kicking their little legs about, touching their face with their hands, rolling all over the show while the ultrasound technician was trying to get the measurements.

The first trimester is done (or nearly) and the risks of miscarriage greatly reduce. You can take a sigh of relief and tell the world if you want to. Show them that first picture of your little one. Look forward to the second trimester, where the symptoms *should* reduce and you could hopefully start to feel better and less exhausted.

Hello little one, and hello second trimester!

A few of my favourite things

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Monkey has now been in his big boy bed for over a week and he is doing so well in there. He has developed an interesting habit now too, which actually we find really adorable!

We put him in his little bed, he lies down and we shut the door. We go down the stairs and we can then hear him get out of bed and run around his room. He then gets back into bed and has a sleep.

When we go to get him after his nap, or first thing in the morning, we find him like this, surrounded by a few of his favourite things.

Some of his fave books, a teacup, a load of blankets, lots of cuddly toys, his lightning mcqueen pillow, and randomly this morning, a pack of wipes he had started emptying!

We aren’t entirely sure how he sleeps amongst all of this, or how comfy it can be, but he seems happy enough and we think it is dead cute!

Family Day at the Zoo

Posted by Caroline Elliott

We are really lucky to have all of our immediate family really close by, which means we see them really regularly. We are also really lucky to have a fab little zoo, called Hamerton ZooPark, within about a half hour drive of us. We’ve been once already this year and because they offer a great value season ticket, no doubt this won’t be my last post about it either!

It is such a great place, but it opened *I think* in 1990 and would have been a lot smaller then, so wasn’t somewhere either hubby or I went to as kids. But both of us had been as adults and it is a fave place for us. My parents though, had never been, so this Easter Monday, when talking about what to do as a nice day out together, we decided they really needed to see how great it is! My little bro and his lovely girlfriend love it there too and really wanted to come for a fun day with Monkey.

The other option for the day was a local farm, but last year Monkey was terrified of the noisy sheep and while I do want to take him back, I thought avoiding sheep may be safest for a stress free family day out!

We really lucked out with the weather as it was such a glorious day! Monkey was dead excited at just being able to run around with some of his favourite people there to play with him!

He was also really brave and stroked a donkey, and a goat! Clever Monkey!

I also took my big camera this time, and managed to get some nice snaps of some of the lovely animals!

It was a lovely time of year to go too as there was some gorgeous baby animals! I loved the baby meerkats!

And we saw this gorgeous baby wallaby emerging from his mumma’s pouch, and then jump right back in again!

Monkey loved seeing all the animals..

But I think he loved spending time with his family more than anything!

Cool dude in Daddy’s glasses!

Overall it was just such a lovely day in the sun!

Family fun over Easter

Posted by Caroline Elliott

My word of the week this week is Family. For a couple of reasons, one being that with the long Easter weekend, we spent a lot of time with both sides of our family, having a lot of fun. But also because with my birthday being right after the weekend, Daddy took a couple of extra days off work so we have had 6 whole days having fun as a little family of 3.

So, what have we been up to?

On Good Friday we went to a local garden centre with hubby’s family, Monkey had no idea that we were meeting any of his favourite people there and he honestly got so excited when he saw his grandparents, his uncles and his aunt. I wish I could have captured that excitement a bit better than I have but you can hopefully get the idea from these pictures of him dragging his grandparents around the shop!

Monkey was also in mega cute mode as he was cuddling some of little animal statues, he is so into cuddling everything at the moment bless him!

Easter Sunday was another family day as we popped round to my parent’s house in the morning to visit them and my auntie who was up from London. Monkey loved dragging Daddy and his grandparents off to play with cars, while Mummy got to have a nice sit down, yay!

Then Sunday evening we headed to Hubby’s parent’s for dinner – Hubby’s Grandma, or Umuma, was from Singapore so curry is more traditionally their Sunday meal, so we went for a very yummy Easter Sunday Curry! Again Monkey loved all of the attention he got from all his family and actually had some lovely moments bonding with his Great Grandpa, who he can be a bit nervous of sometimes. So that was very lovely too!

Monday was a trip out to one of our favourite local zoos, Hamerton Wildlife Centre, and I took more than enough photos to fill a whole post so will write a separate one about that, though he had so so much fun with his Nanny, Grandpops, Uncle Mark and Auntie Fran, it was just lovely 🙂

Tuesday I got a day off (hurrah) as Daddy took Monkey to tumbletots and then started his creative challenge of making me a birthday card with Monkey 🙂 I had a lovely peaceful day while Daddy and Monkey got some Daddy Son time going on 🙂

Wednesday was my birthday so we headed to Cambridge to do a bit of shopping and just enjoy the sunshine really! After getting a bit bored of shopping we gave Monkey a lovely run around with Daddy in the park, and he had a whale of a time, and was a good boy for the rest of the shopping trip, and I got a few lovely treats! Yay! 🙂

Thursday Daddy was back to work so that’s where the family time ended, but we really had such a lovely time, and Monkey has been so happy getting so much attention from Daddy, and the rest of his extended family!

The final exciting thing to note is that today (Friday) we have our scan, so we will get to see the newest member of our family for the first time! Eek! Exciting, and obviously fingers crossed that all is well :).

What’s your word of the week?

Family Photo Friday @ Thursday's Child, Friday's Thoughts

Daddy’s Creative Challenge

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Hi everybody, Daddy here, aka Hubby.

It’s Mummy’s birthday today, and because I’ve been off with the Monkey and Mummy over Easter, and have a couple of extra days off as well, I thought it was time I put my creative juices to the test, and make Mummy a birthday card, with Monkey’s help of course.

Now, my day job is very much office-based. There’s more management in my day than there used to be, but essentially I am a keyboard warrior, and pretty much always have been.

I do love doing crafty things, and love gardening and making things, and cooking, but I really have never been that creative, so the Creative Challenge really is for me!

I always have an idea in my head of what I want things to look like, but it’s normally quite vague at the same time, and translating it into something actually in front of me is where I really struggle.

I can look at something and say whether its good or bad, the problem is that I rarely look at anything I have made and think it looks good!

So, onto the card making. Mummy and Monkey have been doing a lot of card making recently, and I decided to go with the “Monkey Random Painting Generator” technique.
As you bloggers and blog-readers have probably already seen, Monkey loves to paint, and he loves to mix the colours – a LOT.

He just can’t let those paints sit all nice and neat together.

It starts like above, and then very quickly gets to this (check out the Monkey-Eye-View below).

But it does make for some really interesting patterns which can be great for card making.

Check out those colour combos!

So Monkey has made all the ingredients for the card, it’s now up to me to make it. I’ve decided to make this a card from Monkey to Mummy, and the only thing I have had in my head is to try and make something with a birthday cake on it.

Throughout the day, as I have been waiting for the paintings to dry, I wondered if I could make a shape that looked enough like a cake, and tried to think about how to do some candles for it.

Note that at this point I have no idea what else is going to go on the card – I think I’ll wing it! For such a serious planner, there are times where I just “do it on the night”. Looks like this is one of those times.

Ok here’s what I have to work with.

Lots to choose from so as you can see I have cut out the shape for the cake, and also had what I hope will be a great idea for the candles, by taking that fiery looking bit to use the yellow for the the flames.

They don’t look bad!

Here’s the cake all stuck down.

One candle left, oh well.

Here’s where the wheels fall off the wagon.

Mummy likes hearts and stars, so I try to cut some out, and, well, they are rubbish.

After several attempts at hearts, I finally get something that does look half decent, and decide to cut out an “I heart U” style motif. Stupidly though, I write the message on the front of the card without thinking about where everything is going to go, so I have a choice of where to put the other bits.

So I haven’t cut out the star yet, and still aren’t sure which of the above designs to go with, but I’m pretty happy with both really. It will all come down to the star I cut out.

I thought the heart was difficult…

I started by reminding myself of the classic freehand, single-stroke star.

I then started cutting with scissors, and kept looking back at this star for guidance, thinking I should surely be able to do something that looks a bit like it (not that my drawing is very good).

But then, I have no idea how, but as soon as I have finished cutting it out, I realise that despite spending ages cutting carefully and looking back at the star above, I have randomly cut out a Star of David instead! WTF?

I mean how on earth do you accidentally cut out a 6 point star instead of a 5 point star? Hello?

Anyway, after several other tries later and a few swear words, I have something I’m happy enough with to go on the card.

So here it is. The finished card. Now, I know it’s not good, but I am just hoping Mummy can see that it was made with love, and see that it really took some effort (despite how random and slapdash it actually looks!).

I hope you enjoyed the first Daddy Post. I promise not to come back too often – Mummy clearly has more skills on the blogging and Creative Challenge front than me – but this has been great fun to write and to share my little attempt at creativity!

Creative Challenge Linky #9

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Welcome to week #9 of the Creative Challenge Linky!

Thank you so much to everyone who linked up last week, I couldn’t believe how many lovely bloggers linked up! I really very much appreciate it, and have loved reading all of your creative posts, there are some creative mamas out there!

The Creative Challenge isn’t just about arts and crafts – but it is all about being creative. It is getting increasingly difficult to choose favourites as there were lots of really fab posts. But I loved reading about Ruth’s sewing challenges and really admire anyone who has the guts and drive (let alone skill) to turn a hobby into a business! I also loved the genius Cardboard bus from Tarana at Sand in My Toes, as Monkey loves buses we are going to have to attempt this one day!

I’d love it if you could join in, you can link up anything remotely creative. Decorating, baking, sewing, even being creative in what you wear. This linky is about challenging ourselves to be a bit more creative – in whatever way best suits you!

Getting crafty with the kiddies

Being creative in the kitchen

Experimenting with a new hobby

This week I was all creativity’d out over Easter, and also today is my Birthday! So *gasp* I am handing over to daddy for a guest post about him getting all creative with Monkey to make me a birthday card! Yay! I haven’t seen/read anything yet either so I’m dead excited to see it!

Right, now it’s your turn to link up your posts, and tell me all about your Creative Challenge!

<div align="center"><a href="https://becomingastayathomemum.com/category/playtime-blogs/creative-challenge/" title="Creative Challenge"><img src="http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c325/cazzabella2304/CCbadgesmall_zps32623a4b.jpg" alt="Creative Challenge" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Here’s how this works.

Write a new post (or link an old one if it fits the theme) all about your Creative Challenge.
Grab the Creative Challenge badge (by copying the code above) and pop it at the bottom of your post (in the ‘text’ version).
Link your post by clicking on the ‘Add your link’ button and filling in the form.
Remember: Linkys only work when we take the time to read each others posts and leave comments so please let’s support each other and read and comment on as many posts as you are able to.

The linky opens at 6.30am on Wednesday and will close at 11.00pm on Sunday so there is plenty of time to join in.

VBAC or Elective C?

Posted by Caroline Elliott

I had my first midwife appointment today and she asked how I felt about this question, and I can’t say I haven’t thought about it a lot, but I am nowhere near reaching a decision!

VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Caesarean) or an Elective C-Section?

During my previous pregnancy I had high hopes of a natural delivery, hopefully including a water birth. Because of my SPD I felt this would be the best route as the water should help support my pelvis and limit at least some of the pain! I was quite open regarding pain relief and figured that as I had no idea how labour felt, or how I would react to that pain that the best approach was to see how it went and make decisions at the time.

Then, Monkey was Breech. After lots of attempts to turn him, ranging from being advised to ‘visualise the baby turning’ which hubby helped with by turning himself around in bed (lol, which was hilarious, and ridiculous, but sadly DIDN’T help!) to having a consultant attempt to forcibly turn him in the womb via an ECV. That was seriously painful and not an experience I’d care to repeat! It obviously comes with some risks too.

So as he refused point blank to turn around it was recommended that we have a C Section. I hate the word elective as it feels like somehow you are choosing that option, for no other reason than you want one. What they mean is ‘planned’ rather than ’emergency’ so I wish they’d just use the word planned! Anyway, digressing, I know it is possible to deliver a breech baby naturally however I did do a lot of research and found evidence to suggest that since C-Sections have become the more popular option in breech cases, that the skill level required to deliver a breech baby naturally isn’t found as commonly in hospitals anymore. While you may be lucky and have a midwife who has delivered breech babies, and knows exactly how best to do it, you may also have a midwife who has never delivered a breech baby before, as they are more commonly born via C-section. This means that the risks of a natural breech birth are now actually higher than the risks of having a C Section. (That is how I interpreted the research and advice I received at the time – I am not a midwife, doctor or scientist and it may not be correct, all I can do is say how we made our decision.)

So we opted for a C-section. Now, it turns out that I have a Bicornuate Uterus (sort of heart shaped rather than round) and Monkey had no chance in turning round, because he was stuck in one side and could not turn. The consultant advised that there is basically a 50/50 chance that any future pregnancy would also be breech, which would mean there isn’t much of a decision to make and we would go for a C-Section again without question.

But the question is, what would I do if the baby is not breech. Would I go down the road I know and have a C-Section regardless? Plan it in and eliminate all doubt? Or do I think back to my original hopes for my previous pregnancy and aim for a natural water birth?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t relish the thought of going under the knife again. I would much rather not have the post surgery recovery time, the agony of life that is post C-Section, when you realise more than ever before how important your stomach muscles are and how debilitating it is when moving them causes you agony! I don’t want to be in hospital for days post birth again, being kept awake by all of the other babies on the ward, in addition to my own, struggling to care for baby in those hours overnight when hubby has to go home and I can barely move. That I am NOT looking forward to should I choose that route.

BUT, and it is a big but, the birth itself was calm and relatively stress free.We knew the day, I went to a wedding the day before, knowing the next day I would have my baby. We checked in and were second on the list so Monkey was born by 10am. there was no pain pre-birth, it all ran very smoothly and was just lovely and calm.

I am a planner so for me the unknown elements of giving birth have always terrified me somewhat. When will it happen? Will I go to hospital too early and be sent home? Will I leave it too late and not get there in time? How bad will the pain be? How will I cope? (I’ve watched one born and I know some women cope better with the pain than others – not criticising, we are all built differently and can’t compare, it’s just hard not knowing how it will be for me.) Will I need an epidural? What if something goes wrong? What if I need an assisted delivery? What if I need an emergency C-Section anyway and still have all the negatives of a C-Section, without the benefits of the calm build up?

Add to this the SPD, I know women with SPD give birth naturally all the time but there are added complications and there are fewer recommended positions, for example being on your knees is recommended far and away above lying on a bed with your legs in stirrups.

Am I just nervous? Is that why I am hesitating? Am I a coward for wanting to go down the ‘known’ route of a planned C-Section? Am I less of a woman if I never go through the experience of a natural birth? Am I missing out? But then should I take the option of a natural birth (which comes with it’s own risks as well after a C-Section, including tearing the uterus scar) purely to avoid these opinions? Should I be swayed by such negative thoughts?

I am not going to rush the decision as I am well and truly divided over which I would prefer. I may end up having very little choice anyway if this baby is breech too, so in some ways I don’t want to get my hopes up for a natural birth. I am being referred to the VBaC Clinic, where they will hopefully be able to give me some further advice and help me to make an informed decision.

have you had any experience of this decision? Which way did you go?

Becoming a Stay at Home Mum

Can I really do this?

My Birthday Cake

Early Maternity Fashion

A glimpse into our home…

The Magic Moment of that First Scan

A few of my favourite things

Family Day at the Zoo

Family fun over Easter

Daddy’s Creative Challenge

Creative Challenge Linky #9

Right, now it’s your turn to link up your posts, and tell me all about your Creative Challenge!

Here’s how this works.

VBAC or Elective C?